Senate panel concurs with House Bill 1 after amendment to equalize partisan staff funding

The Senate Finance and Claims Committee on (date not specified) opened and closed a hearing on House Bill 1, the legislative "feed" bill, heard informational testimony on the bill's staffing and operating costs, approved an amendment that reallocates partisan staff funding on a per-member basis, and then voted to concur in the bill as amended.

Representative Lou Jones, the bill sponsor, told the committee the feed bill covers the remainder of this session and the opening weeks of the next session because the legislature is operating on last year’s feed bill and is running short on the salary and per diem accounts. “Last year’s feed bill effectively covers the first 5 days of salary and 17 days of per diem,” Jones said. He described the bill as the vehicle to keep legislative operations funded through the session.

The committee’s informational witness, Angie Carter of Legislative Services, walked members through budget line items and increases in the 2025 request. “The total requested budget for the 2025 fee bill is about $2,400,000,” Carter said, and described a roughly 23% increase in the…